LEAP scores for schools are out; see local results here

The Rapides Parish Library Main Branch through a partnership with Amerigroup gave out school supplies to 500 local students on Wednesday.
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Alexandria Middle Magnet students release balloons after writing their goals down. The send-off symbolized students letting their dreams soar. The activity was meant to motivate students for spring testing.(Photo: The Town Talk file photo)Buy Photo

One in three Rapides Parish students met Louisiana's new academic standards on the latest statewide assessments, according to results released by the state Wednesday.

The results showed students in Rapides Parish and the state as a whole built on progress made last year in English but declined in math. In science, Louisiana students maintained progress, but students in Rapides showed minimal improvement from the year before.

The gains coupled with lower math scores weren't enough to move the needle on the overall number of students earning mastery or advanced scores. The percentage in Rapides remains at 32, one point behind the state's rate of 33, which also was the same last year.

The state uses a test called LEAP, or the Louisiana Educational Assessment Program, to measure student achievement for grades three through eight. School letter grades for elementary and middle schools are based on student performance on the test.

Schools rated "A" by the state currently must have a majority of students performing at the level of basic, the third of five levels of achievement on the test. By 2025, a majority of students will have to achieve the next level of mastery for a school to receive the state's top rating.

Meeting the new standard, among other things, will take closing wide achievement gaps between students from low-income and more affluent families and between black and white students.

The gap between students who have disabilities or are learning English as a second language and their peers also continues to be reflected in scores across Louisiana and at the local level.

"These gaps have persisted for a long time," State Superintendent John White told reporters. "They are very hard to overcome, but it must be our mission to overcome them."

School scores

White said there are schools in Louisiana that show that kind of progress is possible.

Horseshoe Drive Elementary and W.O. Hall Elementary are two local schools with large at-risk populations, and both have made notable gains on state assessments in the last two years.

At Horseshoe Drive, 30 percent of students made mastery and advanced scores this year as compared to 19 percent the year before and 13 the year before that. At W.O. Hall, 21 percent of students met the state standard, when only 9 percent did two years ago.

Two other schools with some of the most-improved scores were Pineville Junior High School and Ruby Wise Elementary. Pineville Junior High School has 14 percent more students performing at mastery and advanced levels than two years ago, and Ruby Wise has 18 percent more.

Once again, the district's magnet school, Phoenix Elementary, and Caroline Dormon Junior High had some of the most-improved and the highest LEAP scores in the parish. At Caroline Dormon, 70 percent of students scored mastery, and at Phoenix Magnet, 79 percent did.

The school closest to trailing them is Peabody Montessori where 54 percent of students showed mastery of subjects.

STEM struggles

White said a big focus of state officials going forward will be students struggling with fundamental math and science as evidenced by LEAP results.

In Rapides Parish, there are 22 schools where less than one-third of students show mastery in math.